Prescription drug use at an all time high amongst the American people. CALL US TODAY 949 292 2000

Oklahoma- The holidays can be a stressful and even depressing time for many people. Statistics have shown that drug abuse increases during this period as many can turn to drugs as a way to alleviate strain during the holiday season. However this year, more and more people are turning to prescription drugs with the abuse of these medications skyrocketing nationwide.

According to data released by the Department of Health and Human Services, nearly half of the American population is taking at least one prescription drug, with one in six taking three or more. American people from all different socio-economic backgrounds are seeking out prescription medication for various reasons; some getting hooked after taking the medications for an illness or ailment and others who fall into the trap of addiction because they begin taking drugs to help them deal with some mental or emotional problem.

“[Americans] have a penchant for going for the quick fix,” says Dr. Lon Castle, Senior Director of the Department of Medical and Analytical Affairs for Medco. “They want medications to treat their problems rather than trying diet and exercise or lifestyle changes, which might also be effective.”

According to Castle, prescription drugs may not be the best route to take when hoping to change your lifestyle physically or emotionally. They may also be the least beneficial when it comes to health. Although there are a number of prescription drugs which can assist an individual of poor health, many people are taking prescription drugs which do little to benefit them causing side effects; the primary one being addiction.

“We’re taking drugs we really need and we don’t, but the body doesn’t know the difference when it comes to side effects,” says Dr. Mark H. Beers, professor of medicine at the University of Miami School of Medicine and editor-in-chief emeritus of Merck Manuals.

The solution to better health may reside in a simple change in diet and exercise but it for those already addicted the only solution may be through successful rehabilitation.

One drug rehab center, Wits Inn Recovery is seeing a huge increase in the number of admissions into their treatment facility for prescription drug addiction. Derry Hallmark, Senior Director for Expansion for the center explains that this is not uncommon considering the number of people currently taking prescriptions.

“Of course if an individual has to take these medications for an illness or injury that’s one side of it,” says Hallmark. “But because of the addictive qualities of most prescriptions both doctor’s and patients have to be aware of how easily someone can get hooked on them. And, doctors have to watch out for those already addicted who are trying to get fraudulent prescriptions.”

Hallmark adds that drug rehab, like the type delivered by Wits Inn Recovery is effective in handling any type of prescription drug addiction and that the type of treatment that works best for prescriptions is one that handles both the mental and physical aspects of the problem.

For more information on getting help for you or someone you know who is struggling with a prescription drug addiction contact Wits Inn Treatment Referral today at 949 292 2000

You have read the blogs and seen the placards a dozen times: doctors prescribe too many “drugs” for too many patients. Psychiatrists, in particular, are popular targets of politically motivated language that seeks to conflate the words “medication” and “drug”—thereby tapping into the public’s understandable fears concerning “drug abuse” and its need to carry out a “War on Drugs.” Misleading radio ads promise “drug-free” treatment of panic disorder (certainly possible, but not always achievable) and the Internet bristles with the phrase, “psychiatric drugging.” (My Google search pulled up 9310 results.) And, all too predictably, any physician who argues that psychotropic medication is often an effective and lifesaving intervention is hustled off to the perp line of “drug-company shills.”

All this will not surprise students of language, history, and philosophy. Those who control language are well positioned to control thought and behavior. If government officials can persuade the public that killing innocent civilians is merely “collateral damage,” they have gone a long way toward justifying the carpet-bombing of a village. If the forces of antipsychiatry—and they are alive and well—can persuade the public that psychiatry is “drugging” people, they have gone a long way toward marginalizing and discrediting the profession. To understand how powerful the words “drug” and “drugging” are, imagine the feckless campaign that would be waged if the perennial protesters in front of the American Psychiatric Association’s Annual Meeting carried signs that read, “Psychiatrists: Stop Medicating Your Patients!

Is this all merely a matter of “semantics” or—in the parlance of postmodernism—“competing narratives”? Is there any scientific reason to distinguish “drugs” from “medications”? And finally, what are our ethical obligations as healers when medication is administered, either voluntarily or involuntarily?

There is, of course, a qualified scientific case to be made against overuse of some psychotropic medications. In the first place, we have far too many medications that employ the same old mechanism of action, with only modest efficacy, and too many unacceptable adverse effects. The so-called atypical antipsychotics (AAPs) are good examples. With the exception of clozapine—and possibly risperidone and olanzapine, according to a meta-analysis—the AAPs are not substantially more effective than the first-generation neuroleptics.1 Meta-analyses, of course, must be viewed cautiously, since the studies that compose them may be flawed or biased, and unpublished “negative” studies may be excluded, as my colleague S. Nassir Ghaemi, MD, has pointed out.2 Thankfully, decreased rates of tardive dyskinesia with the AAPs are a bright spot in this otherwise dour assessment, and this is no trivial gain.

Nonetheless, the metabolic adverse effects of the AAPs (weight gain, lipid and glucose dysregulation, and so on) are substantial problems and call into question the goal of expanding the labeled “nonpsychotic” indications for these medications.3 We sorely need to escape from the “D2–5-HT2–me too” paradigm—antipsychotics that block mainly dopamine-2 and various serotonin receptors—and uncover more fundamental mechanisms of antipsychotic action. Critics of psychiatry are indeed justifiably skeptical regarding “Big Pharma’s” concerted efforts to expand the use of AAPs to the treatment of nonpsychotic conditions, for which effective and better-tolerated medications are already available. And yes—many of these same critics are quite properly alarmed at the decreasing use of psychotherapy in psychiatric practice.4

Methamphetamine addiction can wreak havoc on your life and on the lives of those around you. Call Recovery Connection today at 949-292-2000 to find a treatment program capable of helping you though this difficult time. Your call is toll-free and confidential. We have counselors standing by 24/7, so call now and start on the path to recovery.

Methamphetamine Effects

Methamphetamine greatly stimulates a person’s central nervous system and the euphoric feeling can last anywhere from a few hours to as long as twenty four hours. Methamphetamine addiction can cause short and long term adverse physical and mental effects which may include:

Elevated blood pressure

Hypertension

Chest pain

Irreversible damage to blood vessels in the brain

Heart Attack

Accelerated heart beat

Stroke

Insomnia

Aggressive behavior

Jerky movements

Paranoia

Incessant conversations

Convulsions

Hypothermia

Brain damage

Malnutrition

Decrease in appetite

Increase in alertness

Increased physical activity

Increased irritability

Impaired immune system

Blood clots

Kidney disorders

Liver damage

Additional physical effects of methamphetamine addiction or abuse can include:

Slurred speech

Dilated pupils

Grinding of the teeth

Dizziness

Confusion

Respiratory distress

Sweats

Loss of coordination

Numbness

Methamphetamine Addiction – Psychological Methamphetamine Effects

The use and abuse of methamphetamine, or crystal meth, can cause effects which can often resemble several types of mental illnesses. These psychological effects may include:

Visual and auditory hallucinations

Obsessive behaviors

Intense anger and paranoia

Panic attacks

Depression

Methamphetamine Addiction Withdrawal Symptoms

Withdrawal from methamphetamines is extremely uncomfortable and in some cases life threatening. Methamphetamine addiction withdrawal symptoms may include:

Drug cravings

Nausea

Irritability

Depression

Loss of energy

Insomnia

Sweats

Hyperventilation

Convulsions

Irregular heart beat

Because of the severity of this withdrawal, many people choose to enter detox or methamphetamine addiction treatment programs to assist them in coping with these symptoms. In addition to withdrawal, crystal meth can affect many other areas of a person’s life, including placing their job at risk, damaging their relationships and ruining their financial stability. Quality treatment in a professional addiction recovery center is required for a safe and effective recovery from this dangerously addictive drug.

Treatment for Methamphetamine Addiction

It takes time to resolve both the emotional and physical trauma people experience due to methamphetamine addiction. It also takes time to learn how to cope with the feelings the person has suppressed. This process is best undergone in a supportive therapeutic environment (www.wirecovery.com) which is designed to eliminate outside distractions. This allows the individual to focus on the key issues surrounding their recovery.

If you or someone you know needs help with methamphetamine addiction, or for immediate assistance in finding a reputable drug rehab center, please call Recovery Connection now at 949-292-2000. Help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and your call is toll-free and confidential. In a time when you feel so alone, it is important to know that there are people who can still help. Don’t wait – CALL 949 292 2000

An Illinois House committee has forwarded legislation to the full House that would make marijuana for medicinal purposes legal in this state.

A number of states – Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington among them – have decriminalized marijuana when it is used for medical purposes.

Although more states are considering similar legislation, we urge Illinois lawmakers to defeat this measure.

We acknowledge that marijuana use likely has some medical benefits. Limited studies have shown that it can improve conditions related to appetite loss, nausea and vomiting and help ease pain caused by arthritis and other conditions.

But other, FDA-approved drugs already are available to treat each of these ailments.

And smoking marijuana regularly also can cause serious health problems. It can damage brain cells and cells in bronchial passages, which can hurt a person’s immune system. There also is not enough data to conclusively show what the long-term health effects of regular marijuana use are.

Finally, any medical benefits that legalizing pot would have are outweighed by the societal problems it could create.

Marijuana is a gateway drug that can lead users to try more dangerous, addictive drugs, creating a greater burden on an already-stressed health care system.

Marijuana users who drive are impaired, increasing the chances of serious automobile accidents similar to drunk-driving related accidents.

Legalization increases the chances of the drug falling into the hands of children and others who don’t need it for medical reasons. It also sends a message to children that drug use is OK.

How do I feel about myself today after 23 years in recovery? I can sleep. I can go to sleep at night, right out, with out taking anything. Being able to sleep gives me the energy to get up in the morning and be a part of life. I have learned that getting up on time is an important factor in my being a productive member of society. Going to bed on time, and being able to sleep is just as important. In the early months of recovery sleep did not come easily to me for a while. I was told I wouldn’t die from losing sleep. Getting some sober time was promised as the answer to my difficulties. Thank God I hung in there and stayed clean waiting to see that staying sober would change my life for the better. We have to give clean time, time to change us.
This means a great deal to me. I never could sleep before getting clean. I laid awake and suffered, thinking of all of my insurmountable problems. I’d think and think instead of sleep. My mind played movies for me every night in living color. I’d lay in bed and re-live any embarrassment or shame from the now showing selection of my mental movie collection. The program of recovery has showed me how to clean up my act. I don’t experience embarrassment and shame on a regular basis in my new live.
My brain chemistry is balanced. I live without drugs or alcohol. No more getting high and then coming down hard. Hurt feelings are no longer the status quo.
I roll through my life suiting up and showing up. I do my part as a human being. From the time I wake up in the morning, anytime symptoms of the dis-ease start to come on me, I keep reminding myself to think, how I can be of service. The Big Book of AA says some symptoms of the disease of addiction are ‘becoming bored, restless, and dis-content.’ I know I have to watch out for these feelings.
The hours of the day when I am awake are mine to enjoy. I now feel like I lead my life, I’m at choice about what I am going to experience. In active addiction my life leads me. I just watched as things happened to me. All thinking was centered in the getting and using and finding ways and means to get more. The disease of addiction talked to me all of the time. “Ok Loriann, you just stay high while we go to divorce court. While you are working on getting money to use, we are now going through eviction.” The disease told me “you drive better drunk, so now we are going to jail.”
Taking step 1 of the 12 steps made me realize I was powerless over drugs and my life had become unmanageable. Step by step this new way of thinking gave me the freedom to have power in the other parts of my life. Working the steps and going to meetings quieted down the voice of my dis-ease. I am free to choose how I act and even how I think. I’m learning to put a positive spin on most everything. I feel so much better because of positive thinking. I declare myself as happy, joyous, and free.
I have come to believe that I gave up enough of my life to fret, worry and discord. I have changed my mind and choose to walk on the path of hope, good works, and taking very special care of my precious self.
Most of my life I was shy. More than shy I was afraid of people. I could only communicate by being rough and tough, or a desperate victim. Raising my hand and sharing in meetings taught me that I do have something to say. The people in the meetings starting responding to me differently when I was able to share about the new solutions I was learning.

If you are wondering what going to all of these 12-step meetings can possible do for you, know that all of us had this same question. It’s a new way of spending our time with people. It is healthy to be around other people who are in the process of making a difference in their own lives and the lives of others. The people in the meetings are talking about what they are doing to cope. As alcoholics and addicts we know plenty about the problems of life. We know all about what we do not want. Solution is the message of the program. Meetings are a life style. I go most everyday because that is what I believe will keep me clean and sane.
Getting commitments in meetings and eventually being a part of service taught me about how to interact. In service to AA & NA we learned how to operate a business meeting according to standards but we all said the serenity prayer before we started. In service you find plenty of differing ideas about what is the best way to carry the message of recovery. The message I got out of this was to accept the things I can not change. It is better to be happy and healthy than it is to be right. I learned preserving the power of the group conscious was more important than a personal victory. The lessen I learned in all of this is humility. Humility is not to be confused with humiliation. Humility for me has been about valuing my ability to be a part of systems that benefit me and others. I am able to be an important part of the system with out it being all about me. This is a whole new attitude and out look on life.
Going to meetings and working a program has taught me so many useful skills. One way to love my job is to be responsible. The ability to respond comes along with the ability to be awake for the time I am being paid to respond to my company’s needs. Part of being responsible is to wake up on time with a good attitude about being of service. Another part of this recipe is to go to bed on time. Being able to wake up happy and get excited about my plans for the day is a skill not luck. Taking good care of my brain has become very important to me.
Life in addiction was filled with “Oh, I can take it.” I used to say “When it’s too tuff for everybody else, it’s just right for me.” That is a philosophy of the past that no longer serves me. Recovery has taught me if a gentle flow with life is what I desire, it is most reasonable to treat my self and others genteelly. We reap as we sow.
Swimming up stream all the time proved to be undesirable. I am very much my own person. When I feel I disagree with an established pattern within my scope, I change my own action. Lighting one candle, let change begin with me.
As I write this story I have been married for 28 years. My husband and I have also come a long way in learning how to be loving partners in peaceful co-existence. We have come to know through an abundance of trial and error how to support each others’ individual life experience with out one life defining the other. I walk beside my husband giving as much love and respect as I can muster. When his walk is not a part of my highest good it gives me another opportunity to individuate and have personal strength within my self. In the course of a long term marriage (or even a new relationship) people don’t always live up to who they want to be. My husband is my dear friend as often as I let him be and as often as he is able to be. I appreciate the time of love and support we have been able to share with each other over the years.

I married my drug connection whom I met in a bar at 6:00 AM. We were married 6 years before recovery. Even after we got clean we have not always been sober together. That’s the way it is and reality has to be acceptable to me if I am to know peace. All in all my marriage is the best part of my life.
I’m not afraid anymore. Fear was my number one feeling. The feelings of anger and rejection all turned out to be based in fear. I got to take a look at these old feelings and events with a sober head. While writing my steps I came to know a lot of the unrest I went through was all a bunch of fear. Some of the 12 step writing helped me like a road map. Writing the steps established a state of grace in my thinking. I went back over things and started to see that everybody does the best thing they can think of to do in each moment just like I have. I began to forgive others; I have since then forgiven myself. I feel safe and sure. I love myself. I passionately enjoy being alive.
Observing the passage of time and events with out judgment is such a gift of serenity. What happens does not have to be judged as good or bad. Very often now I can understand that what ever happens is neither good nor bad but all just part of life experience. That kind of level headed, art of just being, allows me to feel safe and happy to be me.
My journey to serenity has been about rounding off the rough edges of my personality. Somehow I took on a mistaken idea that I had to make a big production out of everything to feel alive or to be noticed. In recovery I know it is so important to be slow to anger and quick to forgive.
I like the idea of keeping my side of the street clean. The light I shine on all of my days gives me energy to create my own intentions. I take the time to formulate what I want to happen then take the action to support my intention. My big deal is to trust. Trust the process of the program of recovery.
I have learned how to love myself so much, that I can love you and carry the message of hope in recovery. I’ve come a long way, baby. I don’t know why I had to walk the crooked path. The why of the past isn’t as important to me, as it once was. What I know is true is that my way has been made clear before me. The crooked path has been made straight.
In my years as a member of the recovery community I have seen so many people come and go. It appears to be much easier to get clean than it is to stay clean. Only the diligent make it for any period of time. Meeting makers make it. The absolute joy is the miracles that have unfolded before my eyes. I also know the ones who have come and stayed in the program. We share our lives together. By sitting in meetings with these people we do the wed and the dead together. It is said NA means Never Alone.
I have young people in my life. I remember hearing about their conception. We all worried about the parents’ sobriety. Could they handle a child? Could they step up to the plate and be parents? I have seen everything that could happen has happened to the parents and the children of recovery. Some couples stayed together, some did not. In my 21 years of recovery I have seen life find a way and the next generation is here, ready or not, life goes on. Some of the children were raised by clean parents of sprit. I know program kids who are so healthy they shine brightly. I know program kids who have died all ready.

I believe the kids of those who stayed clean are innately better off than the kids of those who have continued in the struggle. The best thing of all that I know is, that it’s all good. We are each on our own path. Every one of us is on an individual journey as we evolve to our ever increasing diversity. I believe we are all born perfect, whole and complete individualized expressions of love.
When I was a kid, I woke in the morning to see my family and receive my nurturing. Then I wanted to run, and jump, and play, and live my freedom in bliss. I was compelled to love and have as much fun as possible.
Somewhere along the line I decided my parents maybe were not the perfect teachers, nor the most intelligent, most loving, most beautiful people in the world.
As I had held belief in parental perfection belief as absolute truth, I was crushed to find I they may have had faults. I was so angry and hurt by the knowledge of their humanness that I decided they appeared to have more serious faults than most others. These childhood condemnations lead me to loose faith in all established systems and a rebellious spirit became my constant companion.
The first thing I heard in my recovery program was your resentments will kill you. Then in Alanon I heard “It doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter, and doesn’t matter.” I knew I was on to something. The fact that every little detail of life was not my business gave me a new idea that forgiveness of others was possible. These revelations lead me to begin to understand self forgiveness was recommended. As I took in these earth shaking concepts they showed me the way I had been thinking was way off. I was promised I’d find peace if I could change my mind.
A large portion of my spare time is spent maintaining my spiritual condition. I go to work and I go to meetings, or to my church. I talk on the phone to people who are not using and who want to help me in my recovery; I listen to peaceful music so I can have some meditation. Good food, the decorations in my clean house, exercise like walking my dog on trails I like, this kind of stuff keeps me together. I find my way out of continuing to do things that I don’t like. I don’t take part in actions that upset me. Taking care of business doesn’t have to include suffering. There is a solution.
My well being is of top priority. Doing what is important to me in a way that I can feel good about myself makes it possible for me to stay clean. Being mindful of other people’s feelings is a part of recovery too. Do no harm. Be polite.
Living our lives trying to make others happy is often one of the key ingredients in the addictive process. This is the selfish part of the program. While recovery is about being of service, and learning how to give; it is also about taking care of yourself so you have something to give. We must always replenish the well. We can’t give away something we haven’t got. Being of service is not about being a martyr. Stretching beyond our comfort zone is how we grow. There are many paradoxes in the program we must be willing to be a little uncomfortable and try new things, but then find a way to be comfortable in this new action. We can be of service without trying to be who other people want us to be. My adjusted attitude can make what was once impossible very doable. We must find a way to be kind to ourselves and others.

Faith is an action in that way. My thinking is powerful. Another one of the great gifts of recovery is the ability to realize that this is my life to live as I choose. I take the action to go to meetings and be at the center of the heard. I am not floating around the edges of the safety and happiness zones. I go to church and make sure people know I am there. I love relationships. That’s my favorite thing. I go to meetings and most often speak up and share, I thank the speaker, and stay after the meeting is over to talk to people.
In recovery I have been taught that my shyness was some kind of self centered fear. My life was controlled at one time by the fear of what people will think of me. As I listened in meetings I came to understand that everyone spends most of their energy thinking about them selves and not so much about me. Some of what I hear shared in meetings teaches me what to do and some of it teaches me what not to do. It’s all good. Meetings are not something I take only when I need them. What ever that means!
For me I feel that I have found my life’s meaning. Addiction was a primary part of my existence for so long even before I stated using, addiction was around me. I have replaced it with recovery being primary. My main job has been and continues to be carrying a message of hope to addicts and their families. Work is what I do in between
meetings to pay my bills.
I went from a broken lost soul to a woman of power. What a transformative journey. Maybe your addiction story is similar or very different than mine. Getting clean and sober is possible for all of us. The lie is dead, we do recover. The clean and sober part is only the beginning that opens the door to changing our thinking. What I think about myself and how I think about others has truly changed. I have learned how to live walking the path of serenity and good will. For this I am grateful.
Today I work in treatment. I love my work. I am an interventionist. I belief in my message that addicts

do recover and recovery is a much better life than active addiction gives me the confidence to get on a plane and go do this very personal work with people I have never even met.

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My name is Loriann Witte 949-292-2000
We present this Information to the client’s and families, to help you to make informed plans about where do we go from treatment, after discharge.

This is a big important part of your treatment.

I am a certified Addiction & Alcoholism councilor. I have been a counselor for about 19 years. I was taught that discharge planning is to be addressed from admit on.

A lot of people in treatment just want to make it through the day and not think about the future – just do the next indicated step stay sober do your assignments, make it to group and not get behind. Try to stay as cool as possible while you are going though eye opening experiences.

We do learn to live one day at a time & not try to project the future.
Recovery is about taking responsibility for our own lives.
Soon you have to make one of the most important decisions of your life.
How do I take all of these new coping skills, and walk them out the doors of the treatment center with me. You will begin to notice, as you go along that you fell great, clear & strong. We clean up nice – within a few weeks you look great. Some people say wheew Oh wow, that addiction thing – glad that’s over with.
Don’t forget where you came from – Never forget that last drunk – the bad one the thing that got you here.
Big book says – We do not dwell in the past, nor do we whish to shut the door on it. Our deep dark past will become your most valued possession.
Valued to keep you humble enough to do what it takes to stay sober , one day at a time for the rest of your life.
Valuable to give you compassion with people who are having hard times.
Valuable to remember to be kind and patient with your loved ones – Remember they are recovering from all that has happened too. The addict gets meetings, counseling, everyday we are offered an out let for our issues & for the stress of daily live. Our loved ones who have suffered as our victims while we called them of persecutors are all hurt & confused too. Those of you clients and families who are still in the stage of blame… Just know this outlook will pass. We are unable to change other people; we can only change our selves.
Even if we could prove that someone else was responsible for you problems to some percentage, You are 100% responsible for your recovery.
Serenity prayer.
Like most things wonderful things we learn our disease can twist it a little and give it back to us as an excuse to stay sick. I say our disease because I am a recovering ETOH & addict clean for 22 years.

I am trying to empower each of you with an education about what it takes to sty sober beyond treatment. Talk to someone in your meetings who states they have 2 yrs sober. Ask them to share with you their experience, strength, and hope. By sharing some of themselves and their story about what it was like – what happened – and what it is like now. Ask, how different is your life today? What have you been through in the disease and in recovery – what has saved your life so far one day at a time to keep you sober and growing.

As you listen to their story look for the similarities not the differences
Don’t justify – identify

If they are not as sick as you – then listen to all they had to do to stay sober.
If they are worse than you – then realize – the disease of addiction is chronic, progressive
& fatal if left untreated.

We only get a daily deprive based on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.

Anything they have experienced is a “yet” for you, if your addiction remains untreated.
The Lie is dead, we do recover.
Loriann Witte CAC Google my name
949-292-2000
WitsEndInterventions.com
weinterventions@gmail.com